Only darkness
Coming out of the theatre
I find an oxygen pipe in my throat,
I am strapped down on a wheeled bed
with people swarming around me.
When the pipe comes out of my mouth
I look at them and they look at me
and they are rather astonished
that I have come to my wits and my throat is sore.
You were dead for moments,
far past unconsciousness,
your heart stopped beating,
you stopped breathing, one of them says
and want to know what I am seeing now?
People standing in a circle
around me clothed in green jackets
I say hoarsely
and answer the question: who I am.
Then one asks somewhat nonchalant
what I remember from the other side?
When I look at him without comprehending
someone else wants to know
how it is to be dead?
On which I answer:
only darkness.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Sugar
On the vermont transit bus I leaned my arm into alittle chink of sun,
Going somewhere older than I was,
Strapped into something tight, keeping me small.
I dug into you like rock climbing;
Too scared of coming down,
Too scared of going up,
Too scared of rockface.
I shouldve split my sides or spilled my guts or hit you or something,
But I was good, and your fathers little pancakes
So round and perfect and me sitting up too straight,
Laughing in wrong places, kissing you,
Kissing up, kissing too soon.
When the cock crows
When the morning comes where will I go?
When the cock crows
When the love is gone where will I go?
And when you got me pregnant I stopped the party and
I stopped the typewriter and I stopped your dumb ball game in the red barn and i
Stopped your father and bled instead.
And I felt the lie - something sticky on the inside,
A bitter wind in my throat,
Stopping me wanting,
In my stomach, in my head and you said
Sugar sugar, you couldnt come come
Sugar sugar, without your mother
Sugar sugar, you couldnt taste it
Sugar sugar, in my throat.
When the cock crows
When the morning comes where will I go?
When the cock crows
When the love is gone where will I go?
song performed by by Heather Nova
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lessons In Hunger
'Do you like me?'
I asked the blue blazer.
No answer.
Silence bounced out of his books.
Silence fell off his tongue
and sat between us
and clogged my throat.
It slaughtered my trust.
It tore cigarettes out of my mouth.
We exchanged blind words,
and I did not cry,
and I did not beg,
blackness lunged in my heart,
and something that had been good,
a sort of kindly oxygen,
turned into a gas oven.
Do you like me?
How absurd!
What's a question like that?
What's a silence like that?
And what am I hanging around for,
riddled with what his silence said?
poem by Anne Sexton
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Sincerely Me
Dear your name here...
Its been a long time, very long time
Since Ive heard your voice
And I bet she never thought I was
So sorry so?
Ive had a hard time very hard time
Seeing less of you
I never thought you knew
So can you see
Youre seeing less of me darling
And your blind to the fact that my
Heart stopped beating
And Im as good as dead
And Im as good as dead
Dear I forgot your name again...
Just picking up where I left off
(oh yeah) this is the part where you leave me
So sorry so?
Ive had a hard time, very hard time
Seeing less of you
I never thought you knew
So can you see
Youre seeing less of me darling
And your blind to the fact that my
Heart stopped beating
So can you see
Youre seeing less of me darling
And your blind to the fact that my
Heart stopped beating
And Im as good as dead
And Im as good as dead
This is all I have to say (to say)
So can you see
Youre seeing less of me darling
And youre blind to the fact that my
Heart stopped beating
So can you see
Youre seeing less of me darling
And your blind to the fact that my
Heart stopped beating
song performed by by New Found Glory
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Dead Do Not Answer
THE DEAD DO NOT ANSWER
The dead do not answer
We call to them in the night
But they do not respond
It is our heart calling to them
Our pain our love our need
But they do not answer
All our memories call to them
All that they have been to us
And we with them
We call and call and call
Again and again and again
But they do not answer
The dead do not answer
And we will not answer either.
I
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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An Open Boat
O, what is that whimpering there in the darkness?
'Let him lie in my arms. He is breathing, I know.
Look. I'll wrap all my hair round his neck' - 'The sea's rising,
The boat must be lightened. He's dead. He must go.'
See - quick - by that flash, where the bitter foam tosses,
The cloud of white faces, in the black open boat,
And the wild pleading woman that clasps her dead lover
And wraps her loose hair round his breast and his throat.
'Come, lady, he's dead.' - 'No, I feel his heart beating,
He's living, I know. But he's numbed with the cold.
See, I'm wrapping my hair all around him to warm him.' -
- 'No. We can't keep the dead, dear. Come, loosen your hold.
'Come. Loosen your fingers.' - ' O God, let me keep him!' -
O, hide it, black night! Let the winds have their way!
And there are no voices or ghosts from that darkness,
To fret the bare seas at the breaking of day.
poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Knock Three Times
Hey,girl
What are you doing down there?
Dancing alone every night
While I live right above you.
I can hear your music playing,
I can fell your body swaying,
One floor below me,
You don't even know me,
I love you.
Oh,darling,knock three times on the ceiling if you want me
Twice on the pipe if the answer is no.
Oh,my sweetness,(knock)means you'll meet me in the hallway,
Twice on the pipe means you ain't gonna show.
If you look out your window tonight,
Pull in the string with the note
That's attached to my heart,
Read how many times I saw you,
How in my silence I adore you,
And only in my dreams
Did that wall between us come apart.
Oh,darling,knock three times on the ceiling if you want me
Twice on the pipe if the answer is no.
Oh,my sweetness,(knock)means you'll meet me in the hallway,
Twice on the pipe means you ain't gonna show.
song performed by by Debbie Gibson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sister Madly
Now youre heading down to get someone
Shouldve done what he had to do years ago
The position is coming through
All the people that youre standing on
All the people that youre standing on
Now youre heading down to be someone
Someone that youve seen in a magazine
Your premonition is coming true
Oh baby youre not so green
No baby youre not so green
No baby youre nutso
Sister madly waking up the dead
Youre systematically stepping on my head
Now youre heading down to find something
Something that you buried in your backyard
The position is coming through
From all the dirt that youre digging up
From all the dirt that youre digging up
Now youre heading down to be somewhere
Somewhere you imagined in your wildest dream
The opposition is coming through
From all the people that youre standing on
From all the people that youre standing on
Now youd better take a firm hand
Sister madly waking up the dead
Youre systematically stepping on my head
Now youre heading down to get someone
Someone that you shouldve had years ago
The position is coming through
All the people that youre standing on
All the people that youre standing on
Youre hard to get a hand on
Sister madly waking up the dead
Systematically stepping on my head
song performed by by Crowded House
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Remember
I remember moments of happiness
Coming home, goo goo eyed
After talking to a boy I liked
I remember moments of sadness
Coming home, teary eyed
After leaving my heart as a memento
To that boy I really liked
I remember moments of peace
After winning one of life's battles
Having a conscience the weight of air
I remember moments of bliss
After walking the quarter of a lifemile
Finding a true friend
I remember moments of grief
After finding that dear friend
Would never have breakfast again
I remember moments of laughter
After the past had past
And the rearview revealed frustration's
humor
I remember moments of tears nectar
When I found my dreams dead
After the doctor helped me number my
days
I remember moments of pain
When all I ever needed was lacked
And all I ever lacked was needed
I remember moments of gain
After all I ever wanted was mine
And all I ever wanted to be was I
I remember moments of love
When a hug made my heart skip
And a smile made my life smile
I remember moments of hurt
When pain blurred love's beauty
And that hug made my heart shrug
I remember moments like this
When I remember all I remember
And remember that life is but a moment.
poem by Jenim Dibie
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Bob Justice
Bob Justice was an old pipe smoking fellow
And outside his shop on Main Street Millstreet Town
He and his sister May often sat talking
Whilst he greeted people passing up and down.
He became well known through his business and bakery
And as a man who owned and raced greyhounds
And it's been said that Bob enjoyed a gamble
And he often bet up to one hundred pounds.
He must have smoked a lot of pipe tobacco
As much as anyone for miles about
And perhaps more than anybody else in Millstreet
For his pipe was seldom distant from his mouth.
His wife from Cockhill and they had two daughters
And one of them Geraldine owns the shop today
And though it's been years since Bob Justice was living
On looking back it only seems yesterday.
If there's a Heaven there you'll find Bob Justice
Smoking his pipe distant from Millstreet Town
And in the cool shade sitting in the sunshine
And greeting people passing up and down.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Where?
My snowy eupatorium has dropped
Its silver threads of petals in the night;
No signal told its blossoming had stopped;
Its seed-films flutter silent, ghostly white:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"
Beneath the glossy leaves of winter-green
Dead lilly-bells lie low, and in their place
A rounded disk of pearly pink is seen,
Which tells not of the lily's fragrant grace:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"
This morning's sunrise does not show to me
Seed-film or fruit of my sweet yesterday;
Like falling flowers, to realms I cannot see
Its moments floated silently away:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"
poem by Helen Hunt Jackson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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In childhood I developed a serious throat infection, and my heart stopped beating. I recovered from that illness with a voice that boomed forth like Kate Smith's!
quote by Patsy Cline
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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- Human
Dont you leave me father time
Take me with you
Tell me does your sun still shine
Come squeeze the world and drip it down my throat...oh yeah
Down my throat again....woooah
You got to breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for air
Breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for air
Touch me so I think Im here
Skin my senses
Barely breathing
Minus human
Please squeeze the world and drip it down my throat again
Down my throat again.....woooah
You got to breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for air
Breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for air
You got to breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for air
Breathe man, breathe!
Coming up for!
song performed by by Metallica
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Truth the Dead Know
For my Mother, born March 1902, died March 1959
and my Father, born February 1900, died June 1959
Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
We drive to the Cape. I cultivate
myself where the sun gutters from the sky,
where the sea swings in like an iron gate
and we touch. In another country people die.
My darling, the wind falls in like stones
from the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one's alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.
And what of the dead? They lie without shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.
poem by Anne Sexton
Submitted by Dan Costina?
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Must Be No!
No is no! that is what the answer must be
Before I destroy my soul and ruin my destiny
If I think an action might corrupt my virtue or my soul
Then the answer to that question, must always be no.
Never ever will I answer with a maybe or even a yes
When I know that someday that sin I must confess
Though I might not know alot but one thing I do know
When it conflicts my pride and honor, the answer is no.
My reputation and my values is what makes myself me
It is how that I am known from what others do see
So could I lie or cheat to cause others pain or woe
The answer to that question, will always be no.
No is no! and the question must end their
As I wont say yes to cause any sorrow or despair
I will not steal or rob from a friend or even a foe
And the answer to that question, is once again no.
Though I might meet with temptation or evil or corruption
It might enter my brain which will cause a disruption
But then one day I know my past it will unfold
And I will feel proud in those times, that I did say no.
A poor man has nothing a rich man has his wealth
But that will not send a soul to either heaven or hell
So will I lie or use to deceive either the young or the old
Once again to that answer, it will always be no.
poem by Randy McClave
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Where Do I Go To Start All Over
(wade hayes/chick rains)
I drove around last night, and tried with all my might
To leave the past behind, cause you stayed on my mind
So i stopped for a drink, i never stopped to think
That it wouldn't work, it just made it worse
So i came on back home, i hadn't changed a thing
And sat here all alone, missing you and wondering
Where do i go to start all over
From your memory
Where do i go to start all over
When in your arms is where i won't be
I'd take some things and leave, if the change of scenery
Would do me any good, like i know it should
I'd still be missing you, what goods a different view
To a broken heart, we'd still be apart
Someday i'll find the answer, to this mystery
But tonight the same old question, just keeps on haunting me
Where do i go to start all over
From your memory
Where do i go to start all over
When in your arms is where i won't be
Where do i go to start all over
When in your arms is where i won't be
song performed by by Wade Hayes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Dead Snake
i shared my love and relationship
just some time back...are
standing around me beating me
i am twice dead now
the first when i became a snake
from human
the second when as a snake i was beaten to death
by this inhuman
i did prove i never had any venom even
even then....
i wonder why
these people are
standing around me and beating me
a dead snake
poem by Samanyan Lakshminarayanan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Holding On
See the searching...
See the people...
Out in the darkness and soul searching
Did you find what we had lost?
All this time Ive got to thinking about the promises;
How long this energy of winter?
How many times that we could never love?
How many times is time enough?
All the foolish notions: when well die thats all that is.
We can never really understand the broken promises.
All along we run together (remember? )
All along we run as one (remember? )
When you find a perfect union, youve got to follow it.
Stop that reasoning (youve got the answer)
Stop that thinking out loud! (youve got the answer)
Go where your heart takes you to (youve got the answer!)
Youre not that innocent! youve been around!
Youre not that innocent...
Got to be right; got it coming to you.
How many times is time enough? (time enough...)
Your time is just beginning out of all where we came from.
Holding on: this point receiving; there it is, there it is, there it is
Holding on, can you remember
Holding on, was it ever like this?
Holding on, its the most important thing.
It was the first time that I saw you
It was the first time that I knew
Out of all my disbelieving,
Holding on, I was holding you.
song performed by by Yes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Holding On
See the searching...
See the people...
Out in the darkness and soul searching
Did you find what we had lost?
All this time Ive got to thinking about the promises;
How long this energy of winter?
How many times that we could never love?
How many times is time enough?
All the foolish notions: when well die thats all that is.
We can never really understand the broken promises.
All along we run together (remember? )
All along we run as one (remember? )
When you find a perfect union, youve got to follow it.
Stop that reasoning (youve got the answer)
Stop that thinking out loud! (youve got the answer)
Go where your heart takes you to (youve got the answer!)
Youre not that innocent! youve been around!
Youre not that innocent...
Got to be right; got it coming to you.
How many times is time enough? (time enough...)
Your time is just beginning out of all where we came from.
Holding on: this point receiving; there it is, there it is, there it is
Holding on, can you remember
Holding on, was it ever like this?
Holding on, its the most important thing.
It was the first time that I saw you
It was the first time that I knew
Out of all my disbelieving,
Holding on, I was holding you.
song performed by by Yes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One Better Day
Arlington house
Address no fixed abode
An old man in a three-piece suite
Sits in the road
He stares across the water
And sees right through the lock
But on and up like outstretched hands
His mumbled words, his fumbled words
Further down theres a photo booth
A million plastic bags
And an old woman filling out
A million baggage tags
But when she get thrown out
Three bags at a time
She spies the old chap in the road
To share her bags with, she has bags of time
Surrounded by his past
On a short white line
He sits while cars pass
Either side
Takes his time
Trying to remember
One better day
A while ago when people stopped
To hear him say
Walking round you sometimes
Hear the sunshine
Beating down in time with the
Rhythm of your shoes
Now she has walked
Enough through rainy town
She rests her back against his
And sits down
Shes trying to remember
One better day
Awhile ago when people stopped
To hear her say
Walking round you sometimes
Hear the sunshine
Beating down in time with the
Rhythm of your shoes
Walking round you sometimes
Hear the sunshine
Beating down in time with the
Rhythm of your shoes
The feeling of arriving
When youve nothing left to lose
song performed by by Madness
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Walk Away
Youve got your mother and your brother
Every other undercover telling you what to say
You think Im stupid but the truth is that its cupid baby loving you has made me this way
So before you point your finger
Get your hand off of my trigger
You need to know the situations getting old
And now the more you talk the less I can take
Im looking for attention
Not another question
Should you stay or should you go
Well if you dont have the answer
Why you still standing here
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Just walk away
I waited here for you like a kid waiting after school
So tell me, how come you never showed
I gave you everything and never asked for anything
And look at me, Im all alone
So before you start defending baby
Stop all your pretending
I know you know I know so whats the point of being slow
Lets get this show on the road today
Im looking for attention
Not another question
Should you stay or should you go
Well if you dont have the answer
Why you still standing here
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Just walk away
I want a love
I want a fire
To feel the burn, my desires
I want a man by my side
Not a boy who runs and hides
Are you gonna fight for me, die for me
Live and breathe for me
Do you care for me
Cause if you dont then just leave
Im looking for attention
Not another question
Should you stay or should you go
Well if you dont have the answer
Why you still standing here
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Just walk away
Well if you dont have the answer
Why you still standing here
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Just walk away
walk away
walk away
song performed by by Kelly Clarkson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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